SongWriterCamps Founders, Sheyne & Harris | Inspire A New Generation of Music Artists

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sheyne & Harris.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
SongWriterCamps was founded in 2018 by myself and Richard Harris. We are songwriters and producers who have written songs that have achieved multi platinum and billboard #1 status. We have written for artists such as: Camila Cabello, Demi Lovato, Meghan Trainor, Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Simpson, Corrine Bailey Rae, Seal, Sinead O’Connor, The Backstreet Boys. We have also had music featured on TV shows such as Empire, Nashville, Princess Diaries, The Young Victoria, Vanderpump Rules and many more. We started SongWriterCamps to help and empower other songwriters and to offer a safe community where not only music creators can share their work and get constructive feedback but offer opportunities where they can make money from their music. For the beginner songwriter we offer 1on1 mentoring sessions online, the intermediate songwriter a monthly group Meet & Critique workshop online and we run several songwriting camps at all different levels throughout the year that are either in person or online.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Our first 3 songwriting camps were in person at The Ace Hotel in Palm Springs in 2018 and 2019, but when the world started shutting down because of the pandemic in 2020, we had to cancel our in person camp and entirely re-structure our business. Going online was challenging at first but it really opened up a new world for us, where so many people were at home reflecting on their lives and getting more creative.. There were a lot of creators coming out of the woodwork where they had put their music careers and hobbies on hold and it opened up a wonderful space for us to build a real music community. As we are both still actively in the business writing songs to pitch for film/tv, producing other artists and working on our own artist projects, we also wanted to be sure we scaled it correctly and allowed time for those projects, so finding that perfect balance of creativity and business has always been tricky, but now we are 8 years in and it’s steadily growing all of the time.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m originally from New Zealand but I lived and worked in the UK for over 2 decades as a singer and then a songwriter. I’m best known for writing Christina Aguilera’s global hit “Genie In A Bottle” which peaked at #1 in 22 countries but other artists who have recorded my songs include: Miley Cyrus, Camila Cabello, Demi Lovato, Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Simpson, Sinead O’Connor, Seal, Corrine Bailey Rae, Cece Winans, The Backstreet Boys and Laura Pausini. I have achieved 50+ million record sales, 100+ platinum sales and an Ivor Novello Award for international hit of the year in 1999.

As a singer, I’ve toured or recorded with artists including; The Pet Shop Boys, Elton John, Celine Dion, Tricia Yearwood, Tom Jones, Daryl Hall, Cyndi Lauper, Bryan Adams and Dave Stewart.

I’m also an original founding member of SONA (Songwriters of North America) an advocacy group that fights to protect the value of copyrights in the new digital marketplace.

My business partner Richard Harris, is a #1 Billboard songwriter, producer, artist and mentor. Transplanted from the UK over a decade ago to LA, Richard quickly signed a staff writer publishing deal with Peer Music landing multiple major label song cuts all around the world. With several #1’s, top ten singles and platinum records he continues to have hits including a recent #1 Billboard dance single.

Richard has landed hundreds of TV, Film and Ad song placements through Peer and the major music libraries he has composed for. Hit shows including “Empire”, “Nashville”, “Vanderpump Rules”, “The Bold Type”, “High Fidelity”, movies “This Means War” and “Single Moms Club”, commercials for HBO, AT&T, eBay and Vivo and trailers for Fox TV and The NFL are among a few of the highlights. A young Meghan Trainor was one of the writers that Richard was able to help guide along the way up to the point of her signing her first publishing deal.

How do you define success?
Success is doing what you love and have a passion for. If you can also make a living at the same time then you are fortunate.
As challenging as it gets sometimes in any business, I count my blessings that I am able to create music, collaborate and work beside so many amazing talented people. Success is just a perspective. It’s more about the journey not the destination. It’s wonderful to be acknowledged and celebrated with an award by your peers and industry, but every little step on the way to getting there was just as important as building and sustaining a career longterm.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.songwritercamps.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/songwritercamps/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/songwritercamps
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/songwritercamps/?viewAsMember=true
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@songwritercamps5827

Image Credits
Bjoern Kommerell